Vita Sancti Emerici
The Saint's Growing Virtues
Blessed Henry advances in age and increases in glorious merits through the virtues, prompting the narrator to recount a few of his deeds.
After this, blessed Henry, advancing in age, was always increasing the glorious marks of his merits through the virtues; and though we cannot explain all these things to you in full, we should still carefully relate a few things about his deeds that we have heard, so it will not be charged to negligence.
The Vision of Light and the Call to Virginity
While praying alone at night in the ancient church of Saint George in Beszterce, Henry is surrounded by a brilliant light and hears a divine voice commanding him to offer the virginity of his mind and body to God.
It happened that one night, when he had gone in secret to pray, content with only one servant, he entered a church — the most beautiful and most ancient one in the city of Beszterce, built in honor of Christ's most precious martyr, George — and there, as he gave himself to prayer and considered within himself what he could offer to God that would be more acceptable, suddenly a light with enormous brightness shone around the whole church building, and in it a divine voice sounded forth from on high: 'Glorious is virginity; I require of you the virginity of mind and body; offer this, and persist in this resolve.'
A Prayer of Humility and Surrender
Henry, not trusting in his own strength but fleeing to God's grace, prays humbly for divine help to overcome the harmful impulses that war against the soul.
He, not presuming on himself but fleeing for refuge to grace as to true medicine, said: 'Lord God, overseer of the universe and helper of human weakness, who takes away the spirit of rulers, who is awesome before the kings of the earth, bring your good pleasure to completion in me, and with the dew of your mercy extinguish the harmful impulses that wage war against the soul.'
The Hidden Treasure of Holiness
Strengthened by divine consolation, Henry keeps the revelation secret and forbids his sole attendant from disclosing it until after his death, so that the fragrance of his hidden virtues remains sealed within until the end.
And so blessed Henry, strengthened in that same hour by the word of divine consolation, kept this secret to himself, and he forbade with solemn entreaty the minister who was usually the only one present for this divine conversation and others, not to disclose any matter of this kind to anyone at all until his death. These things, and as many more signs of virtue as were enclosed as if in the secret chamber of the mind, were kept with holy Henry, and until the flask was broken and the fragrance of ointments spread abroad, they were revealed to no one.
Read the original Latin
Post haec autem beatus Henricus aetate proficiens per virtutum merita gloriosa sua semper augmentabat insignia; quae quamquam vobis per omnia explicare non possumus, pauca tamen, quae de gestis eius audivimus, ut non neglegentiae deputetur, diligenter referamus. Contigit autem ut, dum nocte quadam orationis causa secreto, uno tantum contentus famulo, venustissimam et antiquissimam, quae in Besprimiensi civitate ad honorem pretiosissimi Christi martyris Georgii fabricata est, intraret ecclesiam, ibique orationi vacando, quid acceptabilius Deo offerret, penes se tractaret, subito lumen cum ingenti claritate totum ecclesiae circumfulsit aedificium; in quo vox divina in supernis sic insonuit: Praeclara est virginitas; virginitatem mentis et corporis a te exigo; hanc offer, in hoc persta proposito. Ille autem non in se praesumens, sed ad gratiam tamquam ad veram medicinam confugiens, ait: Domine Deus, universitatis inspector et humanae imbecillitatis adiutor, qui aufers spiritum principum, qui terribilis es apud reges terrae, beneplacitum tuum in me perfice, et noxios motus, qui contra animam militant, rore tuae misericordiae exstingue. Itaque beatus Henricus eadem hora in verbo divinae consolationis confortatus, secretum hoc apud se conservabat, et ministro illi, qui huic divino colloquio et aliis plerumque solus aderat, ne cuiquam rem huiusmodi usque ad obitum suum aperiret, obsecrando interdicebat. Haec et quam plura virtutum signa tamquam in secreto mentis cubiculo conclusa penes sanctum Henricum tenebantur, et usque dum fracta est ampulla et odor unguentorum diffusus est, nemini detegebantur.
Vita Sancti Emerici Ducis (Life of Saint Emeric) companion
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